Super Mario Bros – World 4-4

• Level type: Castle
• Time limit: 400

The first maze castle. Rooms in 4-4 are joined by forks, and one branch of every fork leads back to where you started. Nothing tells you that you have looped; the corridor simply looks the same as a minute ago.

The rule of thumb is that the branch with the obvious path is usually wrong. When the corridor splits into an upper and a lower lane, try the one that looks less inviting, and if you see the same firebar arrangement twice, switch lanes at the next fork. The loops are short, so a wrong guess costs seconds, not a life.

The timer here is 400 seconds, longer than in other castles, precisely because of the maze. The Bowser at the end is a fake as usual, and the axe is behind him.

1-1Overworld 1-2Underground 1-3Treetop / athletic 1-4Castle 2-1Overworld 2-2Underwater 2-3Bridge 2-4Castle 3-1Overworld 3-2Overworld 3-3Treetop / athletic 3-4Castle 4-1Overworld 4-2Underground 4-3Treetop / athletic 4-4Castle 5-1Overworld 5-2Overworld 5-3Treetop / athletic 5-4Castle 6-1Overworld 6-2Overworld 6-3Treetop / athletic 6-4Castle 7-1Overworld 7-2Underwater 7-3Bridge 7-4Castle 8-1Overworld 8-2Overworld 8-3Overworld 8-4Castle